Ahh, yes! The 'first year freak'. I've had a lot of those. You buy a daylily and the first year (sometimes 2) it blooms, you look at it & think 1) 'What the he!! was I THINKING?!!" 2) 'I paid HOW MUCH for this thing?' 3) 'The grower sent me the wrong plant!'
On new-to-me plants I allow one or two blooms to open just so I know I got what I paid for (and sometimes you have to squint your eyes & stand on one foot to see the resemblance), then I cut the scapes and let the plant put its energy back into establishing.
I've had first year uglies have eyes when they shouldn't, not have eyes when they should, even be a different color. The first time it happened I called my daylily mentor all in a panic, and she calmly replied "never judge a daylily by it's first year bloom". Sure enough, the next year it was pretty & the third year it was stunning!
